# Instagram Profile Scraper (`cravl/instagram-profile-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Instagram profiles in guest mode: follower, following, and post counts, full name, bio, and the recent media grid with post links. No login required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cravl/instagram-profile-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Cravl](https://apify.com/cravl) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 profiles

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### Instagram Profile Scraper

Scrape public Instagram profiles in guest mode: no login, no cookies. For each profile URL you get the identity and stats Instagram displays to logged-out visitors, plus the recent media grid.

#### What you get per profile

- **Identity**: username, full name, bio
- **Counts**: followers, following, total posts (as Instagram displays them)
- **Media grid**: up to 12 recent media entries with CDN image URLs
- **Post links**: paths of the most recent posts and reels (e.g. `/username/reel/CODE/`): feed these straight into the Instagram Posts Scraper or Instagram Comments Scraper

#### How it works

The Actor runs a lightweight native extraction engine (not a full browser) in guest mode. Instagram renders profiles fully only through exit IPs with guest reputation, so **residential proxies are recommended**. Datacenter exits typically receive a login redirect; the Actor reports that honestly as an error instead of returning empty data.

#### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `directUrls` | array | Profile URLs (`https://www.instagram.com/username/`) or bare usernames (`username`, `@username`) |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify proxy settings; residential group recommended |

#### Output

One dataset record per profile: `url`, `username`, `fullName`, `followers`, `following`, `postsCount`, `bio`, `mediaCount`, `media[]`, `postLinks[]`, and `error` when a profile could not be retrieved.

#### Use cases

- Influencer discovery and audience-size auditing
- Enriching lead lists with public profile stats
- Collecting recent post URLs for downstream post/comment scraping
- Monitoring competitor profiles

#### Notes

- Counts are returned exactly as Instagram displays them to guests (compact suffixes like `2M` are preserved).
- The media grid is capped at 12 items per profile: that is all the guest grid exposes.
- Pair with **Instagram Posts Scraper** (post metadata) or **Instagram Comments Scraper** (comments with exact totals) for full-funnel extraction.

### Migrating from other Apify Actors

Cravl Actors accept Apify-style inputs and emit familiar field names alongside Cravl-specific fields, so most pipelines migrate with minimal changes.

#### Input compatibility

- `startUrls` (array of URLs, or objects with a `url` key) is accepted as an alias for `directUrls`.

#### Output compatibility

| Cravl field | Compatible alias | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `bio` | `biography` | |
| `followers` | `followersCount` | numeric when parseable |
| `following` | `followsCount` | numeric when parseable |
| (new) | `record` | always `profile` |
| (new) | `inputUrl` | original input URL |

Structure: one item per profile. The media grid and `postLinks` remain nested.

# Actor input Schema

## `directUrls` (type: `array`):

One or more Instagram profile URLs (e.g. https://www.instagram.com/username/) or bare usernames (e.g. username or @username).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Residential proxies recommended. Instagram guest access requires an exit IP with guest reputation.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional alias for directUrls, accepted for compatibility with common Apify Actor inputs. Items may be URLs or objects with a url key.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "directUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/martinpraja/"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The default dataset contains one record per input profile with identity, counts, bio, media grid, and recent post links.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "directUrls": [
        "https://www.instagram.com/martinpraja/"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cravl/instagram-profile-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "directUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/martinpraja/"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cravl/instagram-profile-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "directUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/martinpraja/"
  ]
}' |
apify call cravl/instagram-profile-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cravl/instagram-profile-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/dbBp1QuvQnYHlKPuD/builds/GFvwzH1LsU9GbCwm7/openapi.json